Chapter 10: Leaving None Alive

“Chen Dabao, open the door, open up!”

The person outside was knocking and shouting at the same time.

Hearing the noise, Chen Dabao put on his clothes and came to open the door.

“Chen Desheng, what are you doing here?”

Seeing the couple outside, Chen Dabao’s expression darkened and his brows furrowed immediately.

The couple standing there was none other than his elder paternal uncle Chen Desheng and Ma Lanhua.

They used to live in Peach Blossom Village as well, but after working elsewhere and earning money, they moved to the town over a decade ago. Since moving, they had turned their backs on their poor relatives.

They cut all ties with the impoverished family members.

Chen Dabao still remembered when he was a child attending school in town. One snowy day, older students had taken away the money he had for lunch. Starving and anxious by noon, he went to Chen Desheng to borrow a yuan for food.

Unexpectedly, Chen Desheng slapped him and chased him away.

Chen Dabao held no goodwill toward this uncle.

“Dabao, I heard you’re not stupid anymore?”

Chen Desheng shoved the door open fiercely and deliberately raised his voice.

“I’m not stupid anymore. So what?”

Chen Dabao asked coldly, clearly annoyed.

“Well, good that you’re not stupid. Now that you’re not, you should pay back the money your father owed, right? Repaying debts is only natural. Before, you were a fool, and as your uncle, I didn’t want to push too hard, so I let that go!”

“But now you’re not a fool anymore, so that money must be paid back!”

Chen Desheng raised his voice deliberately, attracting the attention of neighbors nearby. Several villagers holding bowls of noodles and porridge came out to watch the commotion.

“Repaying debts is only right, isn’t it, everyone?” Ma Lanhua also shouted sharply, looking around expectantly, as if seeking the villagers’ approval.

But the villagers, holding their bowls, remained silent.

This couple had a bad reputation in Peach Blossom Village, and the villagers had no desire to associate with them.

“Repay debts? Chen Desheng, when my father died, you didn’t even come to the funeral. Would you lend money to my family?” Chen Dabao said coldly in a low voice.

The Chen Dabao family had long severed ties with Chen Desheng’s family. Chen Dabao had never heard of them borrowing money from Chen Desheng, nor would Chen Desheng lend them money.

The villagers immediately began to whisper among themselves. After all, they were cousins, and not even coming to pay respects at a funeral was heartless indeed.

How could they expect to lend money now?

Embarrassment flashed across Chen Desheng’s face. Chen Dabao’s family had been poor, and he looked down on them. He didn’t visit during holidays. After Chen Dabao’s father died and Chen Dabao became mentally impaired, Chen Desheng felt the family had lost all use to him and was unwilling to even help with the funeral.

He simply did not show up.

“Chen Dabao, you’re mistaken. I had someone send you a hundred yuan back then!” Chen Desheng cleared his throat and produced a stack of IOUs. “Your father never borrowed from me directly, but your family borrowed a lot of money from other relatives to build the house. These IOUs now belong to me, and you can’t deny this debt!”

Chen Dabao’s heart sank.

When his family was building their house, they had indeed borrowed a fair amount from relatives, about a hundred thousand yuan. But after his father died, some relatives came demanding repayment.

At that time, Chen Dabao’s mother was seriously ill but still managed to gather money and repay more than half. Chen Dabao, though mentally impaired, was present and remembered the situation.

Some relatives tore up the IOUs after receiving money; others said they would wait until all money was repaid before tearing them. Chen Dabao’s mother was too sick to argue.

Some people took the IOUs away quietly.

Now Chen Desheng was bringing these IOUs again, implying that the money already repaid was being denied?

“These IOUs plus interest total 120,000 yuan!”

“Pay up quickly!”

Chen Desheng waved the IOUs triumphantly.

He had bought these IOUs for 20,000 yuan and could easily make a profit of 100,000 yuan by reselling them—maybe even enough to buy a small villa.

“Chen Desheng, are you trying to cheat me?”

Chen Dabao, furious, grabbed Chen Desheng by the collar and glared at him.

Indeed, Chen Dabao’s family still owed some external debts, but at most it was thirty or forty thousand yuan. Chen Desheng’s claim of 120,000 yuan was clearly counting the money Chen Dabao’s mother had already repaid.

“I remember before Mother Dabao died, she had already paid back a lot, right?”

“Exactly, she even sold the family’s gold and silver jewelry to me to pay the debts. I saw her do it with my own eyes!”

“I recall some relatives took money and then took the IOUs with them!”

“How shameful! Truly shameful to bully orphans and widows!”

“Nowadays, people have no shame at all for money!”

The nearby villagers erupted into heated discussion.

Chen Dabao’s parents had a good reputation in the village. When the family was in trouble, many villagers had come to help, and many had witnessed Chen Dabao’s mother repaying debts.

It was despicable that those relatives took advantage of her illness to quietly take the IOUs and were now shamelessly demanding payment again.

“Chen Dabao, what’s this? You won’t pay, and you want to get violent?” Ma Lanhua sneered sharply. “I’ll tell you, if you don’t pay, we’ll sue you in court!”

Chen Dabao was about to reply when a few more people appeared.

“Move aside, move aside!”

Liu Dafu and his wife, along with Liu Qiang, came forward.

“Chen Dabao, we’ve already returned your house to you. After taking care of you for a year, asking for some living expenses isn’t unreasonable,” Liu Dafu said loudly. “You ate and wore clothes for a year—at least five ten thousand yuan!”

“Yeah, five ten thousand, not a penny less!” Liu Qiang chimed in.

He had wanted to bring up that Chen Dabao had slept with his wife and should pay for emotional damages, but thought better of it in front of so many people, choosing to keep quiet and just demand more money.

“Fifty thousand? Liu Dafu, if you want fifty thousand, go live in the pigsty for a year, and I’ll give you fifty thousand!” Chen Dabao said coldly.

“Hmph, Chen Dabao, don’t get cocky!”

Liu Dafu smiled slyly. “The village committee has already decided that your father’s remaining money will be used to pay off debts. Once that’s done, there won’t be much left of your father’s compensation!”

“Right, and another thing—when your father died, the funeral costs were covered by the village committee. Also, over the past year, the village hired many doctors and bought a lot of medicine for your treatment!”

“Funeral and medical expenses total 88,000 yuan. Now that you’re not stupid anymore, you should repay this to the village!”

“If you can’t pay, you can mortgage your house to the village committee.”

“The village can sell your house to cover the debt, and any leftover money will be returned to you!”

The surrounding villagers exchanged glances. Liu Fugui and his ilk were truly merciless, aiming to squeeze every last penny.